washing sand...

[whodeydan76]

I see you ladies and gentleman talking about rinsing sand initially....how do we go about doing this without it all washing down the drain? Buckets? Cheese cloth? :hmm3:
I'm asking because I have a 5 gal bucket of premium sand that came with my 93 gal cube and it was just left in the tank damp so I think it ought to be rinsed before I use it...wouldn't you? Just a thought...I am seeding the tank with live rock from a previous tank that was in a friends sump plus a 5# bag of grunge from garf.org

[cloak]

A 5 gallon bucket and a garden hose has always worked for me. Stir it up until the water runs clear. An old sandbed as a "whole" can be bad, but once the muck has been separated from the grains, it's no big deal IMO. There's a lot of hobbyists that have done this without any problems. GL. :)

[whodeydan76]

Thanks:) I bet that sounded pretty dumb lol o well don't know unless I ask. I do appreciate any and all answers I receive.

[hogfanreefer]

Won't all that tap water bring in phosphates and other stuff we don't want? This is the type of nuts and bolts things we newbs need to know! ;)

Would a final rinse (after the water hose) in a bucket with RO/DI help?

[whodeydan76]

I'm not really a noob per say...I joined the same time you did "hogfan" I just wasn't sure where to ask this question so I posted it in here. I just had no idea how to wash sand :) good point on the phosphates and silicates...I do have a rodi filter that I am steady making water with so I'll make enough to rinse the sand after I rinse it w fw.

[YamahaF934]

I used my outside hose just ran it through several 5 gallon bucket rinses. I am not saying its the best but I didnt have a problem with it.

I then rinsed it with RO/DI water with Prime in it as well to get rid of chlorides.

[cloak]

I'm not really a noob per say...I joined the same time you did "hogfan" I just wasn't sure where to ask this question so I posted it in here. I just had no idea how to wash sand :) good point on the phosphates and silicates...I do have a rodi filter that I am steady making water with so I'll make enough to rinse the sand after I rinse it w fw.

Not really. I've been using tap water on my tanks for almosts 14 years now without any problems. The residual affects from water left over in the sand shoudln't be any problems IMO. So minute that it's not even worth sweating over.

There is some HORRIBLE tap water out there, don't get me wrong, but it seems like most people who do use RO/DI at first have some of the same problems that tend to accompany bad tap water. (algae growth) Copper poisoning threads are few & far between. It's usually phosphates, and that's a hot topic with dry rock and overfeeding.

JMO, HTH, GL. :)

[whodeydan76]

I just got a tdi meter from a friend tonight so I could test my rodi water... my "fresh" tap water in reads 160ppm and my filtered rodi water reads. 001ppm... HUGE difference IMO that being said, I had a 75 galtank as my first sw tank and I used tap water the whole time..no rodi or distilled...I just used dechlorinator (sp) and once my cycle was complete my parameters were fine. I tested daily at first and then weekly once I had a stable environment. No issues. I know rodi is better but tap water can be used.

[chrisfont23]

I'm not really a noob per say...I joined the same time you did "hogfan" I just wasn't sure where to ask this question so I posted it in here. I just had no idea how to wash sand :) good point on the phosphates and silicates...I do have a rodi filter that I am steady making water with so I'll make enough to rinse the sand after I rinse it w fw.

Personally, I have had 4 or 5 tanks now and never saw the benefit in rinsing sand. I mean, don't we need the smaller particles too? Any floating crap I would just suck out with some airline tubing via small surface skimmer.

[whodeydan76]

Hey...I like your idea too! Sounds easier! Lol. I agree tho. That grunge crap I am talking about has that black silt crap in it and it is teeming with life.

[SoLiD]

I used my outside hose just ran it through several 5 gallon bucket rinses. I am not saying its the best but I didnt have a problem with it.

I then rinsed it with RO/DI water with Prime in it as well to get rid of chlorides.

I do the exact same thing, but I rinse my sand for about an hour with many manual stirring to clear all the silt out of it. After that process, it is so clean that it never clouds up the water one bit. Thats followed up by multiple RO rinses, and lastly I keep it in a bucket of RODI water with Prime for a day or 2.

[whodeydan76]

Ok stupid question time...wth is prime??

[Rustafar]

Prime is a declorinator. removes chlorine, chloramine and ammonia.

[whodeydan76]

Ok thanks;)

[symon_say]

Buckets and a hose with a lot of water, just run the hose into the bucket full of sand and stir occasionally to remove small particle, this works really nice, and will avoid sand cloud in the future because you'll only have heavy sand grains in the bucket.

[coralsnaked]

As far as the tap water goes for rinsing the sand it is the only way to go cause you would go thru a bunch of RODI doing it. Just be sure to drain it well before placing in tank. Biggest threat is silicates in the water causing algae outbreak.

Never herd a dumb question yet. Just a lot of dumb people because they won't ask questions LOL

Merry Skerry

[SoLiD]

Keep in mind that this is the preferred rinsing method for larger grained sand\substrate. I'm pretty sure this would flush out most of the finer sugar type sand if that was the type being rinsed.

[billdogg]

Here's how I rinse mine, regardless of grain size. I don't lose any measurable amount this way.

All you need is:
1. 5g bucket
2. utility sink
3. 6" piece of pvc to fit in sink drain as standpipe.
4. lotsa tap water.


Put the standpipe in the sink drain. Place the bucket in the sink. fill bucket about 1/3 with sand. start the water running into the bucket, allowing it to overflow into the sink while stirring the bucket. (your hand will work but will get raw after a while - I use a 3" plastic putty knife). When the water runs clear out of the bucket, pour off the excess water into the sink, dump sand in your tank. Repeat until all sand has made it through the sink. There will be quite a bit of sand in the sink. Scoop it into the bucket and do it one more time. Carefully scrape the remaining sand away from the drain and then remove the standpipe. scrape up the remaining sand in the sink and put it in your tank also. No Mess, No waste.


FWIW - I don't waste $$$ on stuff like prime - the chlorine will dissipate within 24hrs or so.

Learned this trick about 25 years ago, after doing it without a standpipe and clogging the plumbing.

[whodeydan76]

That's exactly how I did it minus the stand pipe. I flushed the drain really well too.

[billdogg]

You may want to flush it some more. It was not the P trap that got clogged - the problem was between the house and the main sewer line. The sand settled out and blocked it enough to cause a backup.

[whodeydan76]

Oh crap really!? Hmmm OK yea I'll flush it a lot. Thanks for the heads up.